Tag: Copper

Understanding Propagation and Delay Skew in Cable Testing

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Delay happens for all signals across all cable types, and propagation delay is the amount of time it takes for a transmitted signal to be received at the other end of the link or channel. The propagation delay in a twisted-pair copper cabling such as Category 6 or 6A is related to the nominal velocity of propagation (NVP), as well as the length of the cable and the operating frequency. You might remember from our previous blog on reading the top of a LinkWare™ report that NVP is used by your tester to calculate the length of the cable.

How to Test Shield Integrity?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

The easiest way to test shield integrity is with a DC continuity test. Put a voltage on the cable at the near end, and if it shows up at the far end, it is assumed to be connected properly. While that is true for the conductors in the cable, it’s not necessarily true for the shield. That’s because the shield is connected to the exterior of the connector, and the connector is in physical contact with the rack panel.

Fluke Networks previews single-pair Ethernet testing

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Fluke Networks demonstrated a prototype single pair Ethernet (SPE) adapter for its DSX-8000 at the Rockwell Automation Show. SPE is making waves in the industrial-automation world as a potential replacement for fieldbus architectures. The adapter is being made in very limited quantities and is currently only available to industrial automation and cabling manufacturers for their use in labs but has been released with the expectation that SPE will become widely adopted.

Is Copper Dead?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

In 1995, I attended a seminar in which the presenter told us that copper was dead, that we were approaching the limits of copper and that the future was fiber. However, fiber is not the answer to everything. The semiconductors that provide the processing power for the modern world are still electrical, not optical. Semiconductors create the data that must then be transmitted at rocket-ship speeds, and so the need exists for a copper connector that will allow extremely high-speed data to be taken from silicon to silicon, or silicon to fiber.

Single-Pair Ethernet Consortium: Bringing Single-Pair Ethernet to Building Automation

By on • ( Leave a comment )

A new Ethernet protocol has been designed to operate over a single pair of UTP/STP cable – otherwise known as single-pair Ethernet. Although, individually, these devices don’t call for much power or bandwidth, the sheer number joining our networks (75 billion or more by 2025) will increase overall bandwidth needs.To discuss advances in technology, the Single-Pair Ethernet Consortium (SPEC) was formed, bringing together organizations that make single-pair Ethernet devices, equipment and connectivity. The group’s hope is to nurture the adoption and growth of single-pair networks in a standards-compliant ecosystem that discourages proprietary network types and instead makes use of Ethernet.

All About Alien Crosstalk Measurement

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Alien crosstalk is the coupling of noise from one cable link to another. This happens if one cable is surrounded by many other cables in a bundle. We identify the cables that surround a cable in a bundle as Disturbers. Cables that can suffer from noise coupling from other cables are identified as the Disturbed cable or (Victim).This becomes more important as we increase the bandwidth requirement of cables for faster applications and the surrounding cables (Disturbers) impact the ability of the disturbed cable (Victim) to transmit data.  You might think that using shielded cables i.e. (where there is at least an outer shield) then alien crosstalk would not be a problem. However, if the shield is not terminated correctly even a shielded system can fall foul of alien crosstalk.